The invention relates to a pivotable vehicle trunk lid, which is mounted to a vehicle body by an operating mechanism including a lid-mounted drive unit for operating the lid and the operating mechanism is in the form of a pre-assembled module.
DE 196 43 225 C1 discloses a removable vehicle roof having a pre-assembled module including a roof, a roll-over bar and a roof storage compartment in which the roof is deposited in its open position. The roof storage compartment is provided with a cover which is supported on a carrier which forms the support structure for the whole module that is installed in the vehicle as a preassembled unit.
Storage compartment covers used in convertible vehicles generally include a controllable operating mechanism for automatically lowering and raising the vehicle roof and for opening and closing a storage compartment cover in synchronism with the movement of the roof.
EP 0 846 584 A1 discloses a roof storage compartment cover which is pivotally supported on a vehicle body and which can be opened and closed by a drive mechanism comprising a drive motor with a rack and pinion drive by way of which the movement of the motor is transferred to the operating linkage for the storage compartment cover. The drive motor is supported on the vehicle body in an area ahead of the storage compartment near the vehicle interior and the rack and pinion drive extends from the centrally arranged motor to the operating linkages at opposite sides of the compartment cover.
The roof storage compartment cover and the operating mechanism for the compartment cover disclosed in EP 0 846 584 A1 however are not suitable for forming a pre-assembled modular unit. In the arrangement of EP 0 846 584, the drive and operating mechanism must be mounted directly to the vehicle body.
DE 199 43 582 A1 discloses a pivotable trunk lid for a convertible vehicle which covers a roof storage compartment behind the vehicle interior and a trunk directly behind the roof storage compartment. The trunk lid can be raised by way of a suitable operating mechanism at its rear end for loading and unloading luggage and at its front end for providing a passage permitting the transfer of the vehicle roof into the storage compartment. The trunk lid is operated by way of a hydraulic operating member, which is connected to the trunk lid together with an operating mechanism in the form of a multilink arrangement. The hydraulic operating member is supported on a console which is also connected to the trunk lid. The console, the hydraulic operating member, the operating mechanism and the rear lid form a pre-assembled unit which can be installed in a vehicle using only a few bolts or nuts.
With the trunk lid closed, the support console as well as the hydraulic operating member extend downwardly into the roof storage compartment area or, respectively, the trunk and therefore require a relatively large installation space.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a pivotable cover or lid for a vehicle in such a way that it can be rapidly installed in a vehicle and is operable with high reliability and the installation space for accommodating the operating mechanism and the operating member of the pivotable cover or lid is relatively small.